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THE  LONELY  GOD 

AND   OTHER  POEMS 


BY 

JAMES   STEPHENS 


Neto  gorfc 

THE    MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

1909 

All  rights  reserved 


T4 


«;oi*YBi(riiT,  iyuy, 
Bt   THE   MaCMILLAN  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published 


;  i909- 


£4-#9&<v 


Uorfoooti  ^re«3 

J.  8.  Cashing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood,  Ma»D.,  U.S.A. 


THE    LONELY   GOD 

i 
So  Eden  was  deserted,  and  at  eve 
Into  the  quiet  place  God  came  to  grieve. 
His  face  was  sad:    His  hands  hung  slackly 

down 
Along  His  robe.     Too  sorrowful  to  frown, 
He  paced  along  the  grassy  paths  and  through 
The  silent  trees,  and  where  the  flowers  grew, 
Tended  by  Adam.     All  the  birds  had  gone 
Out  to  the  world,  and  singing  was  not  one 
To  cheer  the  Lonely  God  out  of  His  grief  — 
The  silence  broken  only  when  a  leaf 
Tap't  lightly  on  a  leaf,  or  when  the  wind, 
Slow-handed,  swayed  the  bushes  to  its  mind. 


2  THE  LONELY  GOD 

II 

And  so  along  the  base  of  a  round  hill, 
Rolling  in  fern,  He  bent  His  way  until 
He  neared  the  little  hut  which  Adam  made, 
And  saw  its  dusky  roof-tree  overlaid 
With  greenest  leaves.     Here  Adam  and  his 

spouse 
Were  wont  to  nestle  in  their  little  house 
Snug  at  the  dew-time:  here  He,  standing  sad, 
Sighed  with  the  wind,  nor  any  pleasure  had 
In  heav'nly  knowledge,  for  His  darlings  twain 
Had  gone  from  Him  to  learn  the  feel  of  pain, 
And  what  was  meant  by  sorrow  and  despair 

—  Drear  knowledge  for  a  Father  to  prepare. 

in 
Then,  sad,  He  looked  upon  the  little  place 

—  A   beehive  round  it  was  —  with   not    a 

trace 


THE  LONELY   GOD  3 

Of  occupant  or  owner:  standing  dim 
Among  the  gloomy  trees  it  seemed  to  Him 
A  final  desolation,  the  last  word 
Wherewith  the  lips  of  silence  had  been  stirred. 
Chaste  and  remote,  so  tiny  and  so  shy, 
So  new  withal,  so  lost  to  any  eye, 
So  pac't  of  memorie:.  all  innocent 
Of  days  and  nights  that  in  it  had  been  spent 
In  blithe  communion,  Adam,  Eve  and  He 
Afar  from  heaven  and  its  gaudery. 

IV 

And  now  no  more!    He  still  must  be  the  God, 
But  not  the  Friend:    a  Father  with  a  rod 
Whose  voice  was  fear,  whose  countenance  a 

threat, 
Whose  coming  terror  and  whose  going  wet 
With  penitential  tears:    not  ever  more 
Would    they   run   forth   to    meet    Him,   as 

before, 


4  t  THE  LONELY  GOB 

With  careless  laughter,  striving  each  to  be 
First  to  His  hand,  and  dancing  in  their  glee 
To  see  Him  coming  —  they  would  hide  in- 
stead 
At  His  approach,  or  stand  and  hang  the  head, 
Speaking  in  whispers,   and  would  learn  to 

pray 
Instead  of  asking  ""Father,  if  we  may." 


Never  again  to  Eden  would  He  haste 

At  cool  of  evening,  when  the  sun  had  paced 

Back  from  the  tree-tops,  slanting  from  the 

rim 
Of  a  low  cloud,  what  time  the  twilight  dim 
Knit  tree  to  tree  in  shadow,  gathering  slow 
Till  all  had  met  and  vanished  in  the  flow 
Of  dusky  silence,  and  a  brooding  star 
Stared  at  the  growing  darkness  from  afar. 


THE   LONELY^   GOD  5 

While  haply  now  and  then  some  nested  bird 
Would  lift  upon  the  air  a  slp_py  word 
Most  musical,  or  swing  its  airy  bed 
To  the  high  moon  that  drifted  overhead. 

VI 

'Twas  good  to  quit  at  even  His  great  throne, 
To  lay  His  crown  aside,  and  all  alone 
Down  sloping  through  the  quiet  air  to  glide, 
Unkenned  by  angels,  silently  and  hide 
In  the  green  fields,  by  dappled  shades  where 

brooks 
Through  leafy  solitudes  and  quiet  nooks 
Flowed,  hid  from  heav'nly  majesty  and  pride, 
From    light    astounding    and    the    wheeling 

wide 
Of  roaring  stars.     Thus  does  it  ever  seem 
Good  to  the  best  to  stray  aside  and  dream 
In  narrow  places,  where  the  hand  can  feel 
Something  beside  and  know  that  it  is  real. 


(5  THE  LONELY   GOD 

p 

VII 

His  angels!    silly  creatures  who  could  sing, 
And  sing  again,  and  delicately  fling 
The  smoky  censer,  bow  and  stand  aside 
In  muted  adoration;    thronging  wide 
Till  nowhere  could  He  look,  but  soon  He  saw 
An  angel  bending  humbly  to  the  law 
Mechanic;    knowing  nothing  more  of  pain 
Than  when  they  were  forbid  to  sing  again, 
Or  swing  anew  the  censer  or  bow  down 
In  humble  adoration  of  His  frown. 
This  was  the  thought  in  Eden  as  He  trod 
.  .  .     It  is  a  lonely  thing  to  be  a  God. 

VIII 

So  long!    afar  through  Time  He  bent  His 

mind 
For    the    beginning   which    He    could    not 
find. 


THE  LONELY   GOD  < 

Through   endless   centuries   and   backwards 

still, 
Endless  for  ever,  till  His  'stonied  will 
Halted  in  circles,  dizzied  in  the  swing 
Of    mazy    nothingness  —  His    mind    could 

bring 
Not  to  subjection,  grip,  or  hold  the  theme 
Whose  wide  horizon  melted  like  a  dream 
To  thinnest  edges.    Infinite  -behind 
The  piling  centuries  were  trodden  blind 
In  gulfs  chaotic  —  so  He  could  not  see 
When  He  was  not  who  always  had  To  Be. 

IX 

Not  even  Godly  Fortitude  can  stave 

Into  Eternity,  nor  easy  bear 

The  insolent  vacuity  of  Time: 

It  is  too  much,  the  mind  can  never  climb 

Up  to  its  meaning,  for,  without  an  end, 

Without  beginning,  plan,  or  scope,  or  trend 


8  THE  LONELY  GOD 

To  point  a  path,  there  nothing  is  to  hold 
And  steady  surmise:   so  the  mind  is  rolled 
And  swayed  and  drowned  in  dull  Immensity. 
Eternity  outfaces  even  Me 
With  its  indiff'rence,  and  the  fruitless  year 
Would  swing  as  fruitless  were  I  never  here. 

x 

And  so  forever,  day  and  night  the  same, 

Years  flying  swiftly  nowhere,  like  a  game 
Played  random  by  a  madman  —  without  end 
Or  any  reasoned  object  but  to  spend 
What  is  unspendable '—  Eternal  Woe! 
O  Weariness  of  Time  that  fast  or  slow 
Goes  never  farther,  never  has  in  view 
An  ending  to  the  thing  it  seeks  to  do, 
And  so  does  nothing:    merely  ebb  and  flow 
From  nowhere  into  nowhere,  touching  so 
The  shores  of  many  stars,  and  passing  on, 
Careless  of  what  may  co.ae  or  what  has  gone. 


THE   LOS  ELY   GOD        .  (.> 

XI 

O  solitude  unspeakable!    to  be 
For  ever  with  oneself,  never  to  see 
An  equal  face  or  feel  an  equal  hand, 
To  sit  in  state  and  issue  reprimand, 
Admonishment  or  glory,  and  to  smile 
Disdaining  what  was  happening  the  while. 
0  to  be  breast  to  breast  against  a  foe! 
Against  a  friend!     To  strive  and  not  to  know 
The  laboured  outcome:    Love  nor  be  aware 
How  much  the  other  loved  and  greatly  care 
With  angry  passion  for  that  love  or  hate, 
Nor  know  what  joy  or  dole  was  hid  in  Fate. 

XII 

For   I   have   ranged   the  spacy  widths  and 

gone 
Swift   north  and  south,  and   strove  to  look 
upon 


10  THE  LONELY   GOD 

An  ending  somewhere.     Many  days  I  sped  ' 
Hard  to  the  west,  a  thousand  years  I  fled 
Eastwards  in  fury,  but  I  could  not  find 
The  fringes  of  the  Infinite.     Behind 
And  yet  behind,  and  ever  at  the  end 
Came  new  beginnings,  paths  that  did  not 

wend 
To  anywhere  were  there;    and  ever  vast 
And  vaster  spaces  opened  till  at  last, 
Dizzied  with  distance,  thrilling  to  a  pain 
Unnameable,  I  turned  to  Heaven  again. 

XIII 

And  there  my  angels  were  prepared  to  fling 
The  cloudy  incense,  there  prepared  to  sing 
My  praise  and  glory  —  O  in  fury  I 
Then  roared  them  senseless,  then  threw  down 

the  sky 
And  stamped  upon  it,  buffeted  a  star 
With  my  great  fist,  and  flung  the  sun  afar: 


THE   LOS  FAY    GOD  11 

Shouted  my  anger  till  the  mighty  sound 
Rung  to  the  width,   frighting  the  furthest 

bound 
And  scope  of  hearing:    tumult  vaster  still, 
Thronging  the  echo,  dinned  my  ears    until 
I  fled  in  silence,  seeking  some  dark  place 
To  hide  Me  from  the  very  thought  of  Space. 

XIV 

And  so,  thought  He,  in  my  own  image  I 
Have  made  a  man,  remote  from  heaven  high 
And  all  its  humble  angels.     I  have  poured 
My  essence  in  his  nostrils.     I  have  cored 
His  heart  with  my  own  spirit.     Part  of  Me 
His  mind  with  laboured  growth  unceasingly 
Must  strive  to  equal  Mine,  must  ever  grow 
By  virtue  of  my  essence  till  he  know 
Both   Good   and    Evil    through  the  solemn 

test 
Of  Sin  and  Retribution,  till,  with  zest, 


12  THE  LONELY  GOD 

He  feels  his  godhead,  soars  to  challenge  Me 
In  mine  own  heaven  for  supremacy. 

xv 
Through  savage  beasts  and  still  more  savage 

clay, 
Invincible,  I  bid  him  fight  a  way 
To  greater  battles;   crawling  through  defeat 
Into  defeat  again;    ordained  to  meet 
Disaster  in  disaster;  prone  to  fall, 
I  prick  him  with  my  memory  to  call 
Defiance  at  his  victor,  and  arise 
With  anguished  fury  to  his  greater  size. 
Through  tribulation,  terror  and  despair, 
Astounded,  he  must  fight  to  higher  air, 
Climb  battle  into  battle  till  he  be 
Confronted  with  a  flaming  sword  and  Me. 

XVI 

So  growing  age  by  age  to  greater  strength, 
To  greater  beauty,  skill  and  deep  intent: 


THE  LONELY   GOD  13 

With  wisdom  wrung  from  pain,  with  energy 
Nourished  in  Sin  and  Sorrow  he  will  be 
Strong,  pure  and  proud  an  enemy  to  meet 
Tremendous  on  a  battlefield,  or  sweet 
To  talk  to  as  a  friend  with  candid  mind. 
—  Dear    Enemy    or    Friend,     so     hard     to 

find, 
I  yet  shall  find  you,  yet  shall  put  My  breast 
In  enmity  or  love  against  your  breast: 
Shall  srnite  or  clasp  with  equal  ecstacy 
Thy  Enemy  or  Friend  who  grows  to  Me. 

XVII 

The  topmost  blossom  of  his  growing  I 
Shall  take  unto  Me,  cherish  and  lift  high 
Beside  Myself  upon  My  holy  Throne: 

-  It  is  not  good  for  God  to  be  alone. 
The  perfect  Woman  of  his  perfect  race 
Shall  sit  beside  Me  in  the  highest  place 


14  THE  LONELY  GOD 

And  be  My  Goddess,   Queen,   Companion, 

Wife, 
The  rounder  of  My  majesty,  the  life 
Of  My  ambition      She  will  smile  to  see 
Me  bending  down  to  worship  at  her  knee 
Who  never  bent  before,  and  she  will  say 
"Dear  God,  who  was  it  taught  Thee  how  to 

pray?" 

XVIII 

And  through  Eternity,  adown  the  slope 

Of  never-ending  Time,  compact  of  hope, 
Of  zest  and  young  enjoyment,  I  and  She 

Will  walk  together,  sowing  jollity 

Among  the  raving  stars,  and  laughter  through 

The  vacancies,  of  heaven,  till  the  blue 

Vast  amplitudes  of  Space  lift  up  a  song, 

The  echo  of  our  presence,  rolled  along 

And  ever  rolling  where  the  Planets  sing, 

The  majesty  and  glory  of  the  King. 


THE    LONELY    GOD  15 

Then,  conquered,  thou  Eternity,  shall  lie 
Under  My  hand  as  little  as  a  fly 

XIX 

I  am  the  Master.     I  the  Mighty  God 
And  you  my  Workshop.     Your  pavilions  trod 
By  Me  and  Mine  shall  never  cease  to  be, 
For  you  are  but  the  magnitude  of  Me, 
The  width  of  My  extension,  the  surround 
Of    My   dense    splendour.     Rolling,    rolling 

round 
To  steeped  Infinity  and  out  beyond 
My    own    strong    comprehension    you    are 

bond 
And  servile  to  My  doings.     Let  you  swing 
More  wide  and  ever  wide  you  do  but  fling 
Around  this  instant  Me  and  measure  still 
The   breadth    and    the    proportion    of    My 

Will. 


16  THE  LONELY  GOD 

XX 

Then    stooping    to    the    hut,  —  a    beehive 

round,  — 
God  entered  in  and  saw  upon  the  ground 
A  dusty  garland,  Adam,  learned  to  weave, 
Had  loving  placed  upon  the  head  of  Eve 
Before  the  terror  came,  when  joyous  they 
Could  look  for  God  at  closing  of  the  day 
Profound  and  happy.     So  the  Mighty  Guest 
Bent,  took  and  placed  the  blossoms  in  His 

breast. 
"This,"  said  He,  gently,  "I  shall  show  My 

Queen 
When  She  hath  grown  to  Me  in  space  serene 
And  say,  "Twas  worn  by  Eve."    So,  smiling 

fair, 
He  spread  abroad  His  wings  upon  the  air. 


ASTRAY 

Little  lady!    as  you  walk 
With  a  shy  and  pensive  pare: 
Little  lady!    as  you  talk 
I  am  looking  in  your  fare. 

Who  am  I?    you  do  not  know, 
Or  you  wouldn't  eye  me  so. 

Sure  your  step  is  like  a  wave, 
And  your  voice  is  sweet  to  charm, 
And  your  face,  composed  and  grave, 
Shows  no  motion  of  alarm. 
Little  lady!      If  I  say 
Who  I  am,  you'll  run  away. 

Little  lady!    I  am  Death, 

I  am  sent   to  comfort  thee: 
17 


18  ASTRAY 

Now  you  start  and  catch  your  breath 
Lady,  do  not  run  from  me. 

Just  awhile  ago  you  smiled, 

Little  lady!     Little  child! 

Little  lady!     Smile  of  Grace! 

This  is  not  the  road  for  you. 

This  is  not  a  fitting  place. 

—  Once  there  was  a  Lily  grew 
In  a  garden.  —  Cease  to  roam, 
I  have  come  to  bring  you  home. 


IN   THE    HIGH    COURT   OF   JUSTICE 

I  saw  this  is  a  place  at  the  world's  end 
When  He  was  left  alone  without  a  friend 

From  every  place,  from  far  and  near  they 

came, 
The  blind  and  battered,  and  the  lewd  and 

lame, 
The  frightened  people  and  the  helpless  crew 
Who  hid  in  cellars,  and  the  stragglers  who 
Dodged  here  and  there  in  corners  of  the  earth 
Cursing  the  sun,""and  they  who  from  their 

birth 
Were  lap't   in   madness,   raved   and   strode 

along, 

Chanting  in  fury  to  a  holy  song 

in 


20         IN   THE  HIGH   COURT  OF  JUSTICE 

Their  flighty  wrath:   and  all  the  hungry  folk, 
Who    through    the    world    had    rummaged, 

yelped  and  broke 
Stiff  to  a  run,  for  vengeance  was  in  view, 
And  everyone  knew  what  he  had  to  do. 

It  was  the  Judgement  Day,  and  so  they  sped, 
These  vagabonds  who  always  had  been  dead 
E'en  when  alive,  and  massed  into  the  space 
Between  two  stars:  a  deep  and  hollow  place 
Rolling  immense,  a  swirl  of  blue  and  grey 
Steeped  out  of  eyesight:  so  it  ever  lay 
Swinging  in  whispers,  prickling  to  the  sound 
Till  a  wind's  whimper,  rolling    round    and 

round, 
Jolted  in  thunder,  or  the  dreary  sigh 
Of  a  dead  man  drummed  madness  on  the  sky. 

Here  they  kept  silence,  every  face  intent 
With  a  dumb  grin  upon  the  sun  was  bent, 


IN   THE  HIGH   COURT   OF  JUSTICE         21 

Till  sudden,  huge  and  stately,  came  He  fleet 
Red  from  the  sun,  with  fire  about  His  feet 
And  flaming  brow :  and  as  He  walked  in  fire 
Those  million,  million  muzzles  lifted  higher, 
Stared  at  Him,  grinned  damnation,  toned  a 

yelp, 
A  vast  malignant  query,  "Did  you  help?" 
And  at  the  sound  the  jangled  spaces  threw 
Echo  to  echo:    thunders  bit  and  flew 
Through  deeper  thunders  into  such  a  bay 
The  Judge  stood  frightened,  turned  and  stole 

away. 


CHANGE 

There's  a  cloud  upon  the  sky 
There's  a  voice  upon  the  air. 
'Tis  the  wind  that  with  a  sigh 
Stays  awhile  and  hushes  by, 
Mourning  where  the  trushes  were, 
Mourning  that  the  trees  are  bare. 

All  the  leaves  have  fallen  slow: 
Now  they  rustle  on  the  ground, 
Crinkle-tip  and  russet  glow, 
Yellow  leaf  and  brown  they  go 
With  a  little  withered  sound, 
Flitting  on  the  air  around. 

All  the  birds  have  gone  away, 
All  the  daisies  too  have  fled: 


CHANGE  23 

Buttercups  have  had  their  day, 
And  the  grass  is  turning  grey 
Thinking  of  the  pansy  dead, 
And  the  poppy's  sleepy  head. 

Sad  and  sad  the  breezes  blow. 
Leaves  are  lifted  up  and  thrown 
—  Crinkle-tip  and  russet  glow  — 
Withered  to  the  earth  below. 
Death's  the  harvest,  Death  alone. 
What's  the  use  in  having  grown? 


WHO'LL   CARRY  A   MESSAGE? 

Father  unto  whom  we  lift 

At  the  closing  of  the  day 

Prayer  and  praise  —  a  tiny  gift  — 

Thou  art  very  far  away. 

Feeble  little  people  we 

Vainly  tell  our  misery. 


If  we  cannot  understand, 
Even  while  we  pray  to  Thee, 
Why  Thou  dost  not  stretch  a  hand 
To  allay  our  misery: 
Father  unto  whom  we  pray, 
Thou  art  very  far  away. 

It  is  strange  a  Father  should 
From  His  children  thus  be  far. 

24 


who'll  carry  a  message f  25 

Thou  who  art  so  great  and  good 
Surely  cannot  know  we  are 
Weeping  here  in  misery, 

Mourning  we  are  far  from  Thee. 

« 

Tears  are  very  fragile  things, 
Hopeless  things  that  cannot  rise: 
Sorrow  has  not  any  wings. 
How  can  Sorrow  reach  the  skies? 
Fathers  when  they  live  too  high 
Cannot  hear  their  children  cry. 

If  You  hear  us  when  we  pray, 
Smitten  down  by  hunger  dread, 
Unto  Thee  from  day  to  day, 
"Give  us  now  our  daily  bread." 
Father,  while  Thy  children  groan 
Can  Thou  sit  upon  a  throne.' 


SECRETS 

When  I  was  young,  I  used  to  think 
That  every  eye  peered  through  a  chink; 
And  every  man  was  hid  behind 
His  own  thick  self  where  none  could  find; 
That  every  woman  in  the  street, 
Looking  fair  and  smiling  sweet, 
Was  maybe  hiding  thoughts  that  were 
Not  quite  so  sweet,  nor  quite  so  fair 
As  her  kind  smile  and  blossom  fare: 
She  hived  in  some  forgotten   place 
Within  herself,  and  could   not  bear 
That  any  man  should  see  her  there. 
.    .    .      And   though    I'm   older,   still    I   see 
In  every  face  a  mystery. 


20 


LIGHT   O'    LOVE 

But  now,  said  she,  I  must  away. 
And  if  I  tend  another  fire 
In  some  one's  house,  this  you  will  say 
It  is  not  that  her  love  doth  tire; 
This  is  the  price  she  has  to  pay 
For  bread  she  gets  no  other  way, 
Still  craving  for  her  heart's  desire. 

And  so  she  went  out  from  the  door 
While  I  sat  quiet  in  my  chair. 
She  ran  back  once  again,  no  more: 
I  heard  a  creaking  on  the  stair, 
A  lifted  latch,  one  moment  fleet 
I  heard  the  noises  of  the  street. 
Then  silence  booming  everywhere. 

27 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 
on  the  date  to  which  renewed.  .    — ^ 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall." 


• 


DEC  16  1962 


8ECDLD     AfK 


U.fEPM9 


^Jj^JL^T^K^ 


y?W 


fctffr 


Ia^czx 


^TbTVUP^flX 


4JBA& 


« 


«- 


1971 


OR.    Mfl/26  76 


«*h^ 


BEB»t»*2ljNU^ 


General  Library 
University  of  California 

fWL-alM 


